


What We Do For Love

by AnnieM



Series: Meg/Maggie [4]
Category: due South
Genre: F/F, Just Add Kittens, No Angst, No Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 06:26:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10551590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieM/pseuds/AnnieM
Summary: Just a slice of every day life for Meg and Maggie. Some of this may seem crazy, but this is based on true events.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on true events. I am a yank, so please dismiss any yank terms. The science is real. The names of the felines have been changed to protect the inocent!  
> Meg and Maggie belong to Alliance, Imp and Coal and any other beings belong to me.

December 2016

Meg and Maggie Fraser-Thatcher had two cats, as well as two RCMP careers. Both cats were female and from the same litter. One named Impetuous (Imp) who was black and white and a manx. The other was Charcoal (Coal) who was a solid black with a long tail. Both were short haired and had cobby body features. They did not "meow" like normal cats, they twirled and chirped their requests. Imp was bold and Coal was shy. They were Meg's babies and could do no wrong. 

Meg had the two cats for eight years; before she and Maggie fell in love and married. The two cats instantly adored Maggie, until she got the dogs. Then they would not go near her until she took a bath. Maggie being the animal person she was; figured this out and made the proper adjustments to her hygine. The cats responded in kind. Except for the curtains, all was well in their world.

Early in December Imp started showing a bump between her eyes, with the left eye becoming droopy. Maggie was out on a testing trip; so Meg took time off to take her to the veternarian. The vet was suspicous of the bump; so she recomended to Meg a veternary oncologist and aranged for a consult.

Meg was saddened deep in her soul about this. Imp always slept close to Meg on the side, where Maggie was not. And before Maggie, Imp was often snuggling Meg, while Coal slept by her feet. The two cats just learned to make room for Maggie.

When Maggie returned in late December, they both took Imp to see the oncologist. After an examination, a biopsy and a CAT scan, the results were back. Imp had lymphoma, but it was localized to the sinus area. The oncologist recommended eighteen days of radiation treatment as soon as possible.

Meg and Maggie were stunned as they left the oncologist's office! Meg was trying not too break down and cry; Maggie was holding back tears of her own. Imp would have to go to a speciality clinic who does radiation. That clinic has no boarding facilities, so Imp would have to go in early in the morning. She would stay for treatment; then would be picked up later in the day, each day!

"Meg let me do it! I know you love her, she's your baby! But you are harder too replace for a month than I am. Test periods can be rescheduled. But meetings with officials and various security items are not!"

"Maggie, I will go with you to pick her up each day. I can schedule my lunch hours as needed. She is our baby; I will be there for her and Coal!"

Coal missed her playmate in chase. Imp was having trouble with her eye and did not have her usuall spunk. Meg and Maggie tried to play with Coal more, with extra petting, but it just was not the same to Coal.

So for the next eighteen business days, (the weekends off), Maggie would drive Imp in early; return home unless she had errands. No breakfast for Imp, just a car trip in the carrier. Some times Imp was first to be treated, other days not. Sometimes it was two-thirty in the afternoon before she was ready to go home.

The radiation clinic was on the south side of Ottowa; Meg and Maggie lived one hour north of the city, so the trips were long. Imp took the morning trips a bit noisely, but with Meg along and Imp still a bit groggy, the evening trips for her were better. Since Imp could not eat untill she got home she was usally ravenous when they arrrived, unless she ate a little at the clinic.

Coal would eat her morning meal. She would also eat with Imp; also the evening meal. Coal was getting fat on three meals; so she was only allowed a small treat with Imp and the evening meal. Extra attention was given both cats when Imp came home.

On the eighteenth, a certificate of graduation was presented to Imp and pictures were taken. The swelling had dissapeared to nothing and her eye was back to normal. But some side effects were still possible. One had allready presented it self.

Imp could not smell her food. She saw her kibble but ate a little at a time; every other hour she would eat. Meg and Maggie had to work so they just left out kibble for her. Coal would help herself to the lion's share, so more was put out. Coal ate more, but Imp managed to eat her fill.

Imp started loosing her hair at the treatment site in Feburary. Since her head was solid black with white wiskers, it made for quite a site! When it grow back, it was grey-white; it made her look unique. Meg was just glad to have her alive!

But Mid-March things changed. Imp started to loose weight and was weak-legged when she walked. A fast trip to the regular veternarian was scheduled. They did some tests and found Imp was 70% blind. She could see close up and large shapes, but not afar. She got around obstacles fairly well, prowled around the house where she was familiar, but her site was mostly gone.

The oncologist re-examined her; wanted to do a MRI to see if the lymphoma had gotten in to the brain; or if the blindness was a delayed side effect. Though not common, it could happen after this much of a delay.

The MRI showed no returning cancer, so things would have to be done for Imp. She would have too be fed three times a day by hand. She had lost four kilos, because she could not see or smell her food. At first on one particularly bad day, Meg thought Imp was dying and finally broke down. But Maggie forced some baby food in Imp with a syringe, and within two to three hours, Imp was feeling better and walking.

Since Imp can not see or smell food, a rocker was bought. A one part baby food and two parts canned cat food mixture was made, so it could be spoon fed to Imp to eat. Imp's finicky taste buds still worked fine and she prefered beef. All of this brought out Meg's long dormant maternal instincts.

Maggie would secertly shoot pictures of the scene. Meg would sit in the rocker covered by a towel. Imp wearing a bib would be sitting up, while bit by bit using a plastic coated baby spoon; the food would put by her front lips. All Meg had too do when Imp opened up was put the food on the roof of her mouth; she would lap it down. Imp definitely prefered this method than the syringe.

While this is going on, Maggie would play with Coal and feed her. A pheremone diffuser was being used to calm the cats and reduce stress. Both women found out what all parents had come to know. Your schedule works around the "kids," not they around you!

They both would do what ever it took to make what time Imp has left, as comfortable as possible. She could still get around; accidents on the floor would be forgiven and cleaned. Coal would still play with her, *as long as she got to lick the food bowl and spoon*. And with a few modifications, she could still sleep with Meg and Maggie on the bed. Life was still good for all four of them.

*Coal thought Imp had it lucky, she could not smell the dogs on Maggie any more.*

Ps: "Imp" died of a stroke in May, 2017. She is greatly missed!


End file.
